Oscar Niemeyer, creator of Brasilia's iconic buildings, dies at 104

December 6, 2012

Oscar Niemeyer, the architect whose stylish and futuristic buildings put the thrill in Brazil's capital city Brasilia, died Wednesday in a Rio de Janeiro hospital. He was 104.

Niemeyer's remained an active architect until the end, with his work spanning nine decades. In addition to buildings in Brasilia, his birth city of Rio de Janeiro, Paris and other locales, Niemeyer also collaborated with fellow greats such as Le Corbusier to design the United Nations headquarters.

The New York Times gives him a good send-off in this obituary, but there is more. The above clip from the 1980 BBC television series The Shock of the New takes a critical look at Brasilia, while a 2012 report from Al Jazeera said real estate pressures might reshape the city and negatively affect its iconic modernist structures and site plan: